How loud are the popular crossbows?

4221 Views 25 Replies 12 Participants Last post by Onlyaspike, Dec 5, 2019

TheFieldArcher

Discussion Starter · Nov 30, 2019

Reactions: 5

1 - 20 of 26 Posts

Iron Duke

· #2 · Nov 30, 2019

Interesting … to me there's not much difference. Also seems like the type of sound or the tone is deceiving. Some of the lower decibels actually "sound" louder. One thing for sure, none of the bows quietness would make an iota of difference in whether a deer hears it or not. They'll all be heard equally...lol

Thanks' Archer, you put an issue to bed that might have been kicking around in our minds. That's whether the loudness or quietness of a crossbow brand should enter into the buying equation. It shouldn't!

Reactions: 1

TomOnTheRun

· #3 · Nov 30, 2019

Amen to that! I always thought it was an overplay for a crossbow arrow shooting over 350fps. That arrow gets there fast at 20-30 yards.

Reactions: 2

bugsNbows

· #4 · Nov 30, 2019

Interesting. I noticed some had quivers on, some not. Were the arrow configurations (weights, vanes, etc.) similar?

Hunter 1945

· #5 · Nov 30, 2019

On video all of those bows sounded equally loud. The only bow that was noticeably quieter was the Scorpyd.
I shot several of the bows tested in this video. Indoors, there was a noticeable difference in the loudness of the bows.
I guess the decibel meter picks up sounds that the human ear doesn't hear, or vise versa.

.

Reactions: 1

TomOnTheRun

· #6 · Nov 30, 2019

Hunter 1945 said:
On video all of those bows sounded equally loud. The only bow that was noticeably quieter was the Scorpyd.
I shot several of the bows tested in this video. Indoors, there was a noticeable difference in the loudness of the bows.
I guess the decibel meter picks up sounds that the human ear doesn't hear, or vise versa.

.

Not a difference in sound with all them to me. They all sounded the same to me. Sounded like a crossbow. Get outdoors in real hunt conditions that includes wind, trees, acorns dropping, squirrels and running streams...... Nada!

Reactions: 2

TheFieldArcher

Discussion Starter · #7 · Nov 30, 2019

All with the same sound meter, question comes up quite a bit and I played with dampeners etc. and I can't find it now but a simple addition of Limbsaver Quads toned that Sniper 370 to under 80 decibels! But I tried them on a KI Furious FRT and they didn't knock it down as many decibels but the Limbsaver Broadbands did the trick on the KI and the Broadbands didn't work as well on the Sniper 370, go figure! Also putting Dampeners in the cable track, especially on KI bows made a huge difference in sound and the amount of vibe taken out of the bow, I had a KI 350 that shot like a pillow with KI dampeners in the cable track and Broadbands on the limbs. Just a fun video, you can always try different dampeners to find out what works best with your model to reduce noise and vibration.

Here is another question seen a lot:

Reactions: 2

Iron Duke

· #8 · Nov 30, 2019

They see the arrow.

JOE PA

· #9 · Nov 30, 2019

Your videos are always well done. I personally would have preferred quiet narration to the music track on the noise video, but I understand the need to be entertaining too. I think it’s always tough to judge sound by a recording. Most crossbows seem quieter on video than actually shooting them, but they also seem much quieter when someone else shoots and you are close by.

Reactions: 1

TheFieldArcher

Discussion Starter · #10 · Nov 30, 2019

JOE PA said:
Your videos are always well done. I personally would have preferred quiet narration to the music track on the noise video, but I understand the need to be entertaining too. I think it’s always tough to judge sound by a recording. Most crossbows seem quieter on video than actually shooting them, but they also seem much quieter when someone else shoots and you are close by.

Well, since I kicked off each model intro with some bow porn, had to get some music in there to set the tone!

HONKER

· #11 · Nov 30, 2019

New to the forum and to crossbows but been shooting archery since the early 60's. We did a test around 15 years ago on this same thing. We stood down range about 5 yards from the target (off course safely) we could hear the arrows coming from at least 15 yards away. Tried different fletchings and had different results but still could hear them. Arrows were being shot from 50 yards. Didn't here the bows but definitly heard the arrows.

bunnyrabbit

· #12 · Dec 1, 2019

TheFieldArcher said:
Well, since I kicked off each model intro with some bow porn, had to get some music in there to set the tone!

Have you ever done an indoor decibel comparison to outdoors with the same crossbow? Curious to see if indoor would be louder as sound is trapped in the building.

I have tested Barnett Ghost 410, Barnett Buck Commander BCXtreme 365 and the 2018 Barnett Drop Tine STR indoors and all are much loader than any of the crossbows you show readings for out side. I have not tested mine outside for a comparison.
My decibel meter was set on an adjacent table approximately 24 inches away and 1/2 the length of the crossbow. The crossbow was set up in a high quality rifle jig set on another table. No free hand shooting when doing the testing.

All the best.

Iron Duke

· #13 · Dec 1, 2019

That buck … tolerated a lot of noise ...lol Last week I had a big doe with male & female fawns come in uncomfortable as a harlot in church. In a 15 minute showdown waiting for the doe to afford a shot I picked up my foot. It's incomprehensible how she heard it. The three bolted off. I PICKED IT UP!!! Didn't drag it, or have noisy clothes on or have anything fall off the bottom or even put it back down yet. I heard absolutely nothing, no other part of me moved, and I was hidden behind a solid, no see through stand skirt. Astonishing hearing. Although it was a very rare dead calm evening. Wind in winter is a pain, but it does let you get away with a lot more.

Eventually they circled back from the other side and I killed her but it made me chuckle when I compared her to all you got away with before killing the buck in the video.

Reactions: 3

TheFieldArcher

Discussion Starter · #14 · Dec 1, 2019

Iron Duke said:
That buck … tolerated a lot of noise ...lol Last week I had a big doe with male & female fawns come in uncomfortable as a harlot in church. In a 15 minute showdown waiting for the doe to afford a shot I picked up my foot. It's incomprehensible how she heard it. The three bolted off. I PICKED IT UP!!! Didn't drag it, or have noisy clothes on or have anything fall off the bottom or even put it back down yet. I heard absolutely nothing, no other part of me moved, and I was hidden behind a solid, no see through stand skirt. Astonishing hearing. Although it was a very rare dead calm evening. Wind in winter is a pain, but it does let you get away with a lot more.

Eventually they circled back from the other side and I killed her but it made me chuckle when I compared her to all you got away with before killing the buck in the video.

That buck had one thing on his mind, as I powered up the camera, hey, who reaches for a camera before their bow when they see a target buck is coming and took you by surprise??? lol... taking a chance with all of that extra movement??? lol... so I powered up the camera and you can see the doe he is trailing is with a fawn. That hunt was big time rut and the leaves were crunchy, helping me out! Now when he was getting to a trot I had to MEH louder to get him to stop, I was still getting the camera and bow squared away... now with the expert MEH that I spend hours working on... drives my wife nuts, she is like "I had to go thru this crap during turkey season!"... lol... and really, all of the noise from the leaves with the 3 deer walking, you can say it is giving me cover, but we all know and have experienced, bucks don't always care during the rut, they will catch you moving or even as you are walking to the stand, they could really care less, especially if they are on the trail of a hot doe.

Some doe IMO are actually harder to hunt than the big boys, just this year the 3rd doe I took on camera was an extremely educated girl, she knew my stand and would put eyeballs on my stand before breaking the thicket, I had to move my position behind where she was coming from to take her... and she gave her lil button buck one heck of an edumacation, lil guy walks thru the woods looking up in the trees now!

But the smartest matriarch doe that blew (literally) so many of my hunts, on this day the wind was strong in my favor and I blended in perfectly! When they come in, you can actually watch her swing wide and go to the trail where she knows I walk in, when she gets to the trail and gets a nose full, she looks right up into my stand... she was like, he was here, is he up there??? Sad and happy at the same time to finally get an arrow in her, she won so many times:

See less See more

Reactions: 4

Huntersthompson

· #15 · Dec 1, 2019

Shot a doe 3 weeks ago, watched her run into the thick. Sat down in stand to give it 30 minutes, heard some noise behind me, 7 more does. Stood up recocked and loaded.they kept coming, then spied nice buck tailing them. They got within 50yards but never into my shooting lane. Watched them drift off out of sight. No way they did not hear the shot. Seemed totally unconcerned. They were maybe 2 minutes behind first doe.

Gabowman

· #16 · Dec 1, 2019

Wow! I'm surprised. I thought there would be a bit more differences. I thought my Sniper was pretty quiet but I guess theyre all about the same. Thanks for sharing.

Reactions: 1

TheFieldArcher

Discussion Starter · #17 · Dec 1, 2019

Gabowman said:
Wow! I'm surprised. I thought there would be a bit more differences. I thought my Sniper was pretty quiet but I guess theyre all about the same. Thanks for sharing.

Big difference though when you shoot the Deathstalker 380, and then shoot the R26, the numbers seem close but you really hear the difference and the carbon DS just sucks it up! Big difference in tone also. Finding the right dampeners and the right spots to put them will tame that R26 and bring those numbers down with the tone.

Onlyaspike

· #18 · Dec 1, 2019

TheFieldArcher said:
Big difference though when you shoot the Deathstalker 380, and then shoot the R26, the numbers seem close but you really hear the difference and the carbon DS just sucks it up! Big difference in tone also. Finding the right dampeners and the right spots to put them will tame that R26 and bring those numbers down with the tone.

What dampness and location are you running on your DS380 ?

TheFieldArcher

Discussion Starter · #19 · Dec 1, 2019

Onlyaspike said:
What dampness and location are you running on your DS380 ?

There was no dampeners on the DS380 when the sound meter was used. I did put a Limbsaver crossbow kit on it for hunting but never took another reading.

Onlyaspike

· #20 · Dec 1, 2019

TheFieldArcher said:
There was no dampeners on the DS380 when the sound meter was used. I did put a Limbsaver crossbow kit on it for hunting but never took another reading.

Think it was worth it?

1 - 20 of 26 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.